Snake Bite Heart With a Bubble Gum Smile

Dirt and grim removed from my body, I feel great. I no longer feel as if I am a dirty street rat but a functioning member of society. It's an amazing feeling really. To think a simple shower in my school's locker room could turn my whole attitude around.

I'm not saying I'm going home. I'm saying Alex's television stunt is hardly an issue.

I wonder if that interview got him more girls. He should be able to do that well enough on his own with the Gaskarth family "good looks". That's something my classmates from my old school had always mentioned. Our family was so good-looking, so picture perfect to them. It's too bad they didn't know the real family. They never met Alex; only saw him from time to time. They may have met my parents once, maybe twice. My friends at the time swooned over my brother. My teachers found my parents extremely attractive.

And I don't think I inherited those looks.

I've never been the prettiest girl, never been the first person guys want to ask to dances, never been acknowledged by the opposite sex. David doesn't count.

Or maybe I don't make myself available, open. Maybe I've gotten tired of trying to get people to notice and care. I spent so much time at my own home doing that. Maybe I burnt out.

Mind you, I don't have my brother's caterpillar eyebrows and bedroom eyes.

That may or may not be a good thing.

The sun is fully raised in the sky. It's no later than nine o'clock I assume. I walk down the Disney street again. I glance in windows as I pass, taking note of things I would buy if I had money or a want for material items. I don't have either but window shopping is something I've done since I was younger.

I stop outside the music store, staring at its window in shock. There is a poster identical to the missing child papers with my face and name on it.

That sorry son of a bitch I call my brother posted my picture in a music store window. My privacy is shattered all for his publicity. Damn him.

Someone gasps from next to me.

"You're Alex's sister," the person states.

I turn my head from the official murderer of my sanity to the owner of the gasp. It's my brother's band mate, skunk-head. Could my day get any worse?

"I don't know what you're talking about," I reply.

His eyes dart from the poster in the window to my face.

"I'm not dumb. Your name is August, right?"

"No. It's Fall."

He scrunches his prominent nose.

Where the hell did he inherit that thing from?

"Look, whatever you call yourself now doesn't matter. You have the same facial features as the girl in that picture and in all of Alex's pictures," he insists.

I snort, "Alex has pictures of me?"

I didn't mean say that out loud.

Skunk-head smirks in triumph. "Yes, he does. He found that box under your bed."

So he did go in my room.

"I was joking," I try to cover up my mistake.

The stupidest mistake I've ever made in my opinion.

"It wasn't funny," he retaliates.

"Wasn't supposed to be."

"Jokes are meant to be funny."

"Well, I break standards."

"Just come with me to see Alex," he pushes.

"No," I answer.

He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out a cell phone. His fingers fly over a few buttons.

"That's fine. I'll bring Alex here," he puts the phone to his ear.

I turn and run.